Heartache's Locks
Five figures stand atop some stone carved stairs, looking down at the abandoned tourist spot, of a cavern, below. Their mark lays at the base, still and bloodied in front of the cave’s mouth is. Where the shadow of the overhanging land above have started to cast over them.
“Eventhatcan’t survive this 50ft drop and with all the stairs they hit.” The tallest, broadest, bronze-skinned among them says. They light a cigarette while looking down at their mark. Another grabs onto his arm.
“Seiryu, man, I don’t know.” “Don’t know about which part?” He asks, stopping his cigarette right before his mouth. “About resorting to this after we’d ‘found’ / got to them.” The shorter person says, looking a tense mess of emotions. “Alright, alright, I get it ’fumi: You’ve got mixed feelings about the son of a bitch being dead, but what he’s done to you deserved to this. And more.” “I know, I just feel bad for him, to die like this and...” They look away initially seeming shy.
“Oh you’re playing coy again huh” Another person speaks up. ” Charlie, at least let me get away with it for a few minutes,” Huffs Takafumi “Alright alright you two. Say, since thatjunkis gone, why don’t you two.. y’know?” Both persons pause. “Are you telling us to start dating again?” ’fumi asks incredulously. “Well not right away, I just figured a dead guy can’t run interference by extorting photos and whatnot. Certainly not from the bottom of...there. Did he roll over or uh”
“Hey guys, somehow he’s gone or moved?” Another member on the shorter side says. “Tomo what do y- Where the fuck is it?” Charlie immediately snaps, eyes darting all over the small clearing of rock before the cave’s entrance.
“Did he somehow survive and get somewhere back into the cave?” The final member asks, looking panicked. “Maybe V.” “Sooo much for ‘dead guy ruining nothing more’ huh” Charlie remarks, beginning to shake slightly, to the notice of ’fumi. They tried to sound confident as they go”Hey you don’t gotta freak out, we beat him pretty bad, we stabbed him a few times too. He can’t’ve got that far, if at all... Right?” Directing the last bit to Seiryu, who looks focused. “Damn right.”
The group shuffled down the stony steps at the last seen location of their enemy. “Drag marks?” Seiryu points out, questioning himself as he says so. “What the fuck could drag him, he was 250lbs when not dead weight who, or what...?” “I don’t think I want to find out, V.” Hisses Seiryu in an annoyed tone. V takes note of this.
But there’s something all of them technically see but haven’t noticed yet: The cave’s mouth isn’t seeming to let in much light. In fact, it isn’t letting in any light or even reflections of light in or out. Just a solid void black a few feet in from the mouth of the place, with the drag marks leading directly into it. V notices first and steps back. “Um guys..” He says nervously, “Not nowVince,” Seiryu immediately jerks a response with an inflection of annoyance in his voice. His eyes trying to make sense where ‘Junk’ could have been moved to. His eyes follow it, into the void of a chasm.
An eye opens in that darkness staring back. A white sclera with a reddish orange iris, unblinkingly looking at him. “Uhh ’fumi isn’t this a lot like your fav- AH!” A shadowy hand latches onto Sei’s arm, pulling him toward the eye. Pulling him into the void. Fumi, Charlie and Tomo rush to his aid, trying to help him pull away but more hands of strange shadowy mass are ejected out, ensnaring all of them and quickly pulling them into Abyss.
Vince is the only one left outside of it, having the better reaction of stepping away. He pulls out his phone, dialling someone called ‘Bones’ in his contacts. “Bones? Yeah it’s V, shits gone south including Sei getting back to his angry ways about me. ... Yeah, he’s been snatched up and dragged into some dark, dark place. I kinda don’t want to go in y’know? ... Fuck this I’m coming back to you and Alana- they’ve bagged June and tossed her into a cave but the whole thing went missing into the dark place before smoky shadow hands dragged them in as well. Before they could get a SCREAM out!” Vince’s tone is dripping with fear mixed with apprehension. From the other end of the phone someone yells “Girl good riddance! Run the fuck out of there and back to our hotel room!” Which, Vince does run from the area after checking to see that nobody’s visibly around “No witnesses, not with June listed as missing,” he says to himself while he leaves hastily over the rocky terrain.
Time shifts. Wounds reform, shift and mend.
When June opens her eyes, not only does she not know where she is or how she’s alive, she also sees her surroundings. They look eerie, uncanny valley in their effect as if a close but far off replica of a house. She can hear what at first is like a slowed down clapping, like a slowed standing ovation. Then she hears something else,
THOOMP THOOMP THOOMP followed by the feeling of being watched. She moves stiffly to see a giant eye staring back at her that’s also a part of a face. It blinks, it seems to be a real person which only makes June yell “AGH WHAT THE FUCK?!” Even louder than she was already going to.
“You had a nasty fall outside,” The person responds plainly, almost callous in their detached tone. “It wasn’t the fall,” “Oh? Do tell, I need to know how to better treat your wounds. Come onspeak.” June grits her teeth as she feels out the muscles of her body “Stab wounds, some broken ribs, the taste of my own blood in my mouth; some cunts attempted to MURDER me!” The seeming giant looks stunned for a moment. (Is that because I said ‘cunt’?) June ponders.
“Colorful language choice aside, if you stay in here long enough you’ll be fiine” The seeming giant mutters in a dismissive tone. Something bubbles up within June at this dismissive tone, not quite anger but something violent to be sure as she starts by turning onto her side to move out of the strange bed she’s been lain in. “Hey, what are you doing in there?” “Getting up” June answers with some degree of agitation.
“Hold on now! You’re barely back from the brink. Pushing yourself to walk like this will just hurt you more, come on settle back down,” They almost plead as June forces her body to move, sliding her legs out of the bed first with anger, taking a breath, forcing herself to sit up burdening her body and mind with fresher intense pains. (Fuck! Those bastards really nearly killed me!) But she powers through anyway.
Feet touching the floor, her body recoils viscerally with the same sense of uncanny valley as the rest of the room. The whole while the apparent giant is telling her to get back to bed to “Rest so the healing can take effect!” June looks up at the window she’s being peered in at. The sheer disdain on her face speaks volumes to her maybe-captor. “The fuck are you looking at me like that foryou little shit? I’m trying to use my abilities to heal you, ungrateful FUCKER!” They grab and pull open the room of the house, like it’s a chest.
“You don’t uh look like a giant?” June says out loud. The woman towering over, rolls her eyes. “Because I’m not,you little shit. I’m a normal sized woman, you’re just shrunk,” “Oh my god I’m in a fucking doll house? Explain right the fuck now, because WHAT?” June says, while grunting and standing up, adrenaline carrying her.
“You wouldn’t believe me” “I’m alive despite being stabbed in the chest a few times, try me!” “Maybe I will when you’re better” “You what?” “Ugh. Supernatural abilities granted by the Abyss we’re currently located inside of.” “You fucking what? I- Hu-h?” June sits back down on the bed at least, questioning (Am I just dead an’ in flamer purgatory? Hell already rejected me once so maybe...? Wait is this fucker wearing a 1950s nurse outfit. I swear to FUCK!) While thinking this June’s face creases upon realising this. “Are you cringing like that at me? You little shi-” “Call me a little shit again, I’ll break these walls and bite you,” (What kind of feral bitch did I find near dead on the porch?) The two just glare at each other, before June takes a few steps forwards then collapses.
“We definitely got a livelier one than that other lot. Looking for someone named ‘Junk,’” States the nurse before putting June back into the doll bed, much the same way you might gently handle a puppy.
Dozens of hours more, June rises once again in the custom dollhouse bed/bedroom. When she slowly looks around, there’s nobody peering in. June staggers, her body stiff after laying so still for a time unknown to her. In truth it was 63 hours including her previous unconsciousness’. But there was something afoot, something that disturbed her on a gut level not including being seemingly shrunk and bound in a dollhouse set.
First was the salty smell, wafting into space as she could hear hushed talking in a nearby room. Then she hears the clapping sound from earlier, to which her eyes dart trying to find its source. Then she can hear the muffled talking get louder, she turns to the source: two people having sex on what is the small kitchen or dining table. (Oh classy, right in line of sight of any ‘patients’ in this creepy place. Wait, why do the look like that nurse gal from earlier?)
June stares, looks back at the spot she’s basically stored in, looks back at the 2 bucking hips like drunk college students. A familiar sight to June, but not the usual type of persons involved. (Are the fucking related? Am I sure I’m not in weird purgatory? Limbo? Maybe that wonderful person’s shorts about Abaddon running limbo to be the worst thing were more correct than I thought? Like the constant post-nut clarity. But this shit... HUP! They’re looking right at me?? The hell?)
“What are YOU staring at from back THERE?!” The young man of the two yells, not withdrawing from what he’s doing but stopping. (Fuck it, we ball) June thinks before loudly going “Hey are you two related?”
The older woman of the two hisses out
“Yes we are now can you stop staring? It’s HELLA creepy!” “Yeah seriously what the fuck is wrong with you?” “The lion the witch and the audacity of this bitch” The young man then stops, then spins on his heels and screams “THE HELL YOU CALL MY MOM?!” (That’s both their mom, I’m killing myself I swear to god) “DID YOU BUY YOUR AUDACITY IN BULK, HUMAN?” June screeches at the guy. He pauses. Running at the room, standing in the doorway “The fuck you mean by ‘human’?” “I don’t wanna be identify with human if you’re here doing this, ya nasty.” “Oh Alexander baby just silence that fucker so we can get back to it, I’ll lie to Jaimie!” The mother coos at her son, just as Jaimie turns the corner into the room. “Fuck the hell NO! What the hell is- Oh for fuck’s sake, in the KITCHEN?!”
“Jaimie your bitch of a patient called mom a bitch, let them out of that tower so I can beat their ass NOW!” Jaimie feels a surge of anticipation as she does release June into the room. (Will this bitch be calmed after slapping my brother? Ah fuuuck)
<The ‘dollhouse’ jail looking tower as roughly illustrated here by me, the author>
June is removed from the tower, finally being freed and allowed to stand fully. The problem here for Alexander, is that he is he’s 5′7 and 160lbs / 170.2cm and 72.57Kg, whereas June is 6′4:250lbs / 193cm and 113.39Kg. As expressed below, June is not small:
At this revelation of new information and some minor risk assessment, Alexander hesitates. June doesn’t as she cocks her fist to punch them upside the head, which would have cracked their skull slightly had Alexander been a normal man. It does render him unconscious as he flops over, falling into one of the room’s tables containing other doll houses on the right-hand side of the room. Their mother was already rushing toward June before her hand has even made contact, but resulted in Catherine tackling June up against the doll house she was just in. “You BITCH!” She yelled as her own fists flew at June’s face and side of her head. She headbutts Catherine, stunning her enough for June to push her back into the doorway.
“You both disturb me,” The mom gets into a low, wide stance lunging at June, who palms her mid-lunge stopping her in her tracks. She tries to struggle against this by grabbing June’s hand/wrist she used to stop her, June fully grabs Catherine’s face and drags her upward until stood upright. Then June uses her other hand to grab Catherine’s neck and begin to choke her. “Wh-Wait!Haerck,” “Hey so uh don’t kill my mom please?” Says the nurse, the mom in question trying to stop this choking for both survival and non-survival reasons. “Eugh, yeah, fine” June replies with an inflection of being dissatisfied, throwing the grown woman to the left-hand side of the room, landing at Jaimie’s feet.
“Why [cough cough] didn’t you h-elp me?!” Catherine tries to demand through the affect of being rattled so. Jaimie looks her mom in the eyes, a fish-eyed stare, shrugs, “You were going to kill the patient, the patient defended herself.” “Good answer,” June comments while stretching her arms, bones and joints clicking before she asks “So, uh, you.” Point to Jaimie ”‘So you’my name’s Jaimie you little shit- Wait no” June stares for a moment, visibly mulling over on carrying out her threat/promise from earlier.
“Whatever, look, Jaimie, start explaining right about now. I was sure I was going to die, somehow I haven’t and I don’t see any pills labelled ‘500’ or any futuristic medical technology. I’m just alilconfused.” June asks on-edge, tense and still coming down from the adrenaline. “Ok so first off thanks for not killing my mom, second off screw you for this extra work load to heal them and lastly I already told you: supernatural abilities. We’re in a place called Abyss or The Abyss, being here long enough just gives you a few tricks.” “Uh-huh. Hey so uh, how long have I been here? Like how long was I unconscious for in there?” “Oh, uh” Jaimie checks her watch, uncurling and then curling her fingers, muttering under her breath “Nearly 3 days.”
“Oh.” June says stiffening up a bit in her posture, looking down at the floor blankly. Jaimie takes the opportunity to put her family members in separate doll houses, which June observes as the two are shrunk down, then dart off looking like light beams. “That’ll hold them until they heal up..” June stares at said doll houses for a second, her face scrunches up its expression.
“Hey so did 4 other people blow through here at any time recently?” “Well that’s a sudden change in things, uhm, but yeah??” “One bronze-skinned and tall, the rest white and ranging from 5′ to 5′5?” “Yes that’s all a lil too accurate, I remember them, it was the first time in forever another human shorter than my mom had been around.Why?Oh.” Upon finishing her statement and question, Jaimie sees an intensely ferocious expression has emerged on June’s face. A mix of angry tension, bitter sadness and something in between. She thinks to herself (Before, when literally choking my mother her face barely showed rage but plenty of disgust. But now, this face of hers, those raised shoulder muscles...) “Can I uh, help with anything there or even ask anything about this?” Jaimie tries prodding, June looks her in the eyes, causing a sense of fear to spike in Jaimie’s heart. “Uh, this face of mine, that’s not directed at you, my bad. Those 4 are what you could call my enemies,”
“Are they responsible for your-” “Yes. Yes they are, plus much more non-physical ones too,” June pauses, glances at the kitchen, “Hey can I have some water, please? I’m mighty thirsty.” “Uh sure? Do you want your clothes soon or?” “My clothes?” June looks down, seeing her dark tank top, raises her knee and sees boxers are on, but the socks, boots, pants, jacket are all not present. She narrows her eyes with suspicion “If you can magically heal me, why am I strippedhuh Jaimie? While you’re in a nurses outfit that is usually thought of as a sexy/sexual outfit.Waityou commented that you’d ‘try me’ after I got better too, care to explain madam?” “Hey ay ay, whoa whoa now- It’s not like that! You had deep wounds I needed to clean before closing them! Honest!” June is right up against Jaimie’s side, all up in her face and Jaimie, she is sweating like a whore in church. June lingers for a few seconds trying to tell if she’s being lied to but steps away, then catches a whiff of something.
“Huh, I think your mom liked it a lil much when I grabbed her neck” “You what?” “I’m usually down to choke a cougar and maybe strangle a lion, but I was doing the ‘kill the bastard’ throttling not the ‘press down on both sides’ kinky throttling a sexual engine to start.” “How would you be even able to tell? She’s in a dollhouse right now healing?” June points to the tiny wet patch on the floor where Catherine was stood/held up. “Oh.” Jaimie responds. “W-How did you see that?? This room is a little bit dim for lights..” “Smell.” “You fucking what? Are you a dog or something?” “More of a bearor werewolfbut no, I justknowthe smell.” Jaimie’s eyes narrow “Slut,” she hisses before walking into the kitchen, grabbing cleaning supplies. June just stands there less than amused, before slinking into the kitchen and finding a spot to sit that doesn’t smell of sweat or sexual fluids. Only 1 seat fits that need.
“What’re you doing?” Jaimie asks, coming back into the kitchen spotting June crouched, squatting on one of the stools at the far end, much like a gargoyle perched on stone. “Sitting on a seat that didn’t have excessive sweat or the smell of bodily fluids on them? There’s just this one” She bluntly answers to Jaimie’s general dismay, horror and disgust. “Well that’s fucking horrifying” “Yeah kinda” “No, I mean I was sat on one of the others minutes ago before you clapped my family.” “OH. YEAH OK THAT IS. Do you wanna run through a shower or two if I clean them? Just show me a cloth and a disinfectant that works on leather seats I guess.” Jaimie freezes up, muscles stiffening at what she just got offered. “If you do that I will want to kiss you.” “Bet.” “H-w-HUH?! You’re so weird to read I can’t,” “Thanks it’s the trauma,like emotional incest for example.’Same damaging effects as if anything physical had been done.” June says in this eerily calm voice with this sharp look in her eye while looking at Jaimie. “OH. Oh. Your violence makes more sense now, uh, I’m just gonna go wash.. You have fun with the cabinets bye” She squeaks before running off upstairs.
June slides to work, rifling through all the cabinets at first by peeling them open by leveraging her fingernails against the rim of the wooden doors, avoiding the tainted-smelling handles. Some literally smelling like a person’s fleshy fun bridge between the anus and genitals. The potential ‘how’ of that alarmed June for certain as her mind ran potential scenarios while she was already wiping down everything within sight. Quietly she speaks to herself “This smells of traces of semen, or other fluids and juices, the fuck are those animals doing in here? Recreating herogasm? God why didn’t I kill them for this...” furiously scrubbing down all surfaces, not just the leather seats or stone countertops, or metal cabinet handles. It’s a crime scene cleardown with which June would make Dexter Morgan proud.
About 30min after setting off for the bathroom, Jaimie arrives down the stair and through the narrow hall next to the doll room, into the kitchen/dining room to see it look much,muchcleaner. “What the fuck did you do to this place...?” “Used this on everywhere it smelled like sex,” June casually says putting a bottle of disinfectant on the countertop. It’s halfway used. “Jesus fucking christ I ate meals off a plate in here...Huuegh" Beginning to dry heave, June is just sat there watching this happen, eyes darting about, sat feeling awkward while she is again perched like a gargoyle, on the stool where she was previously with a big glass of water. She goes over to Jaimie, puts a hand on her shoulder and says “C’mon sit down and try to breathe for a bit.” Which she does and follows June’s lead for that.
The two are just sat there for a few minutes, Jaimie looking worse for wear but breathing slowly and deeply. June just has her hands in her lap, twiddling her thumbs while Jaimie is sat in the seat right next to her occasionally looking at her. Well Jaimie catches this while breathing deep
“[Cough] HAHaha! [Wheeze] Your fuHCKin face it’s so-haha! You-” June just puts a hand on Jaimie’s back right as she was about to laugh her way backwards off the stool. “Oh,oh, thanks there...uh” She shifts awkwardly in her seat. June removes her hand.
“Sorry about my mom & brother, that you had to see that. They weren’t supposed to do that in the kitchen, just upstairs” “You knew? I mean your reaction was underwhelming but what the fuck? I...” June slowly blinks “Before my mom, it was me so uh” “You’re sure you don’t want me to kill at least one of your family members? As a treat?” “No, surprisingly. I mean the two kept things to a minimum and at least tried to keep it out of my way but uh yeah.” June is just staring at Jaimie’s face and taking in her features. Black hair, longer at the front than the back, the parting but short tufts at the back, tired eyes with shallow lines either side of her nose, worry flickering in her eyes alongside shame wrapping her face. “Were there no other people about? Like nobody else for miles on miles? Even travellers passing through?”
“Nope, none, the closest to humans are Goblins or Drathate. While both are humanoid they’re not hospitable to us. Especially the latter, their entire culture is combat central.” “Combat requires more foot soldiers though? Would that’ve worked out?” “I mean Drathate are 10ft by 10 years old, so y’know childbirth’s a risk there. As for the Goblins like our neighbour this family had a falling out with them a while back sooo, alienation/isolation from Goblins for I wanna say 12 or more years.” “Nah.” “Nah? What do you mean?” “You’re either ageing real slow or under 30, same for your brother. Meaning you were both teenagers, banging for a time, then switches over to your mom. Can I go stay with the Goblins for a bit, maybe get direction to the nearest place? Is that a thing I can do? I got those 4 people to track down,” June’s expression is cold, dark, subconsciously letting off a dark foreboding aura. “Y’know June y’said my reaction was dull but you kinda haven’t reacted so far? What’sthatabout?” “I mentioned emotional incest earlier, I had that happen to me a lot growing up soo I’m numb to the subject plus a lot of others. Except for physical end of things, as you’ve seen.”
“Yeah I noticed... So you react with violence easy but you were kinda shut off and stiff when it came to when I was emotional or distressed. Hmm...” “Girl I do not know you, not enough to hug you for certain.” “Really? But you’ll clean my entire kitchen??” “I don’t do hugs. Feels wrong. I squish like an inch of a person’s arm, or bicep or maybe even face.” June almost gently pinches Jaimie’s forearm. “There, a squish.” “The fuck is that? Are you like ok up there in the brain?” June’s mind races with (Says the woman who fucked her own brother) “No I’mnotactually how ever couldya tell? Was it the ease of violence or lack of empathy response?” June slings, dripping with sarcasm as she uses an overly sweet tone. “Not ok for hug but can sass me,” “Yes” Silence drops on the two.
“Say uh, do you want to come with me?” “Ayo? A bit forward of you, but-” “No like journey with me. I want to track down and kill the people who tried the same for me, but I don’t think I’ll get far not knowing anyone or any customs that’d get me in trouble. Oh and I do not want to be alone with my thoughts after nearly dying, then seeing those two fucking.” “I mean, I think I can?”
“Ok, ‘think’ is interesting. Care to elaborate?” “I mean I gotta heal my folks for certain, that’ll take a hot minute, but like after that I’ve not got a very busy social calendar.” “Ok, killing my targets can wait a little longer. Fuckers already have like a 3 day head start so what’s however much more?” “You’d... Wait for me?” “Yeah I guess so?” “Huh. Interesting. Thanks.” “Interestinghow?” “Don’t worry about it, you little shit” With that Jaimie immediately sputters “Wait wait shit no-” BITE goes June’s teeth shallowly, mostly her canines and lateral incisors digging into Jaimie’s shoulder, more of a pinch than a bite. “AGH you FUCKER! Whyyy?” “I said I would.”
